"The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper." — Eden Phillpotts.

Saturday, December 18, 2004

PROTEST INFO: Watching and waiting ..

I visited Pale Male and Lola's nest site again today (2-3 pm EST). As I walked through Central Park towards the apartment building, Lola flew over my head and disappeared into the grey skies above the eastern part of the city.

As soon as I arrived in front of the building, I was disappointed to see that no repairs were being made to the cornice today. The scaffolding was still in the same place and with the same attitude it had for the past several days, obviously untouched.

Today's vigil consisted of approximately 30 people who inspired the usual chorus of honking horns from passing vehicles. An ambulance in full wail honked its horn -- one of the loudest horns I've ever heard -- as it raced past us to an emergency, and a city bus driver cheered over his bus loudspeaker "Bring Back the Nest!"

Today, tremendous anger was focused on the Audubon Society by the protesters; in fact, several protesters loudly stated that they had canceled their Audubon memberships. Many protesters claimed the Audubon Society made too many concessions to the Co-op Board during the negotiations and they are further allowing the Board to slow progress to a crawl on spike reinstallation. A few protesters are firmly convinced that the spikes will never be restored to the cornice while others claimed that the hawks will never accept the new nesting structure.

High above the rumbling discord, a pale ghost appeared unnoticed in the grey sky and soared directly to the disputed cornice. Despite the presence of the scaffolding, Pale Male was not intimidated; he placed his feet on the cornice as if to settle there, or perhaps to drop off another stick, before he sprang away again on the wind. Oblivious to our sudden cheers and the muffled sound of gloved hands clapping, Pale Male sailed gracefully along Fifth Avenue and landed awkwardly on the thin iron railing that bordered an apartment window one block north, tipping forward and back several times as he neatly folded his wings.